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What kind of a fight would it be? If there was no solution at Geneva, Navarre predicted there would be "internationalization of the war"—meaning allied intervention. And for France? Henceforth from Dienbienphu, the old ways of war could no longer suffice. Robert Guillain, Le Monde's able correspondent, cabled a bitter valedictory from Hanoi:
" 'Let the enemy come,' said our troops at Dienbienphu, 'and we'll show them.' We'll show them? We'll show what, and to whom? 'We'll show those who face us in battle,' they said. 'We'll show the enemy. And we'll show them in Hanoi. We'll show them in Saigon, the people busy sipping cool drinks on shaded café terraces or watching beautiful girls in the pool at the Sporting Club. We'll show the people of France, the people of France above all. They have to be shown. They have to be shown what their neglect, their incredible indifference, their illusions, their dirty politics have led to. And how best may we show them? By dying, so that honor at least may be saved . . .' Our dead of Dienbienphu died, I claim, protesting, appealing against today's France in the name of another France for which they had respect. The only victory that remains is the victory of our honor."